Memories to last a lifetime
Date published: 25 January 2013
BERNARD Halford remembers as if it were yesterday.
"We took £7,644 in gate receipts," he recalls, whipping out the exact figure as if he had freshly totted up the takings on the turnstiles.
Only this wasn't yesterday. It was 51 years ago. Or it will be, to the day, when Athletic take on Liverpool in a reprise of the oh-so eventful 1962 FA Cup fourth-round tie.
Manchester City's life president and still as sharp on the recall as ever, Halford (71) was assistant secretary at Boundary Park when Liverpool rolled into town as Second Division leaders.
Bill Shankly's men were given a real shock by Athletic, a side then well-and-truly on the up thanks to the acquisition of the inspirational Bobby Johnstone.
"It was a momentous day," said Halford, who at the age of 23 went on to become the youngest secretary in the country under the watch of Ken Bates.
"Liverpool were top of the Second Division then and the same season they went on to win promotion. They have been in the top flight ever since.
"But we were on the up, too. In two years, we had progressed from the bottom four of Division Four and had signed Bobby Johnstone.
"In 1960, we were getting crowds of 3,000. For Bobby's first game against Exeter, we had 18,000.
"And then for the Liverpool game there were 42,000 at Boundary Park. Bobby Johnstone not only made the club. He made the town."
With Johnstone and Jimmy Frizzell in the team managed by Jack Rowley, Athletic took the fight to their opponents in a game which hinged on two moments of controversy: Bert Lister's goal that wasn't given, and Ian St John's goal that was.
"Bert Lister's goal was disallowed because Peter Phoenix was offside right across the other side of the pitch," Halford said. "He never had anything to do with it.
"We didn't think Ian St John's shot had crossed the line at the time. But I was on the steps near where the players emerge, on the halfway line.
"John McCue was closest to the ball and said it didn't cross the line. He was a lay preacher, so I don't think he would be telling lies."
Halford, who will be at the game on Sunday as a guest of the club, knows that such good fortune will have to belong exclusively to Athletic if a positive result is to be forced against the Premier League giants, 5-1 winners over Athletic at Anfield last year.
"It is a very tall order," said the only non-player in City's Hall of Fame after nearly four decades of service. "Paul (Dickov) will have to have his team very well organised.
"Players of the talents of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, who came through the ranks here at City, can cause damage.
"And with Steven Gerrard on the set pieces you have to guard against those, too. It is a difficult task. But it is also exactly what every player is in the game for."
